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KPLC DT-8-1 began broadcasting yesterday from Lake Charles, Louisiana.
They are currently in a testing mode. They are broadcasting in 480p right now. They should have all the equipment in place to pass through the NBC HDTV programming in about 30 days.
I am about 40 miles from their transmitter and I am receiving a good signal with rare breakups. I am using a standard RatShack 60 VHF/UHF boom type antenna in my attic. No amplifier. Their engineer told me they were still at a very low power output while they were tweaking and reception should improve as they increase power output.

The engineer did not say when they would up the power. KPLC announced on their 5:00 PM news yesterday that they were going live with their DT station next Monday. Maybe they will go up on the power then. Can you receive their analog station? If you can you should be able to get the digital signal they are putting out now. I get a grade B analog signal but the digital popped right in when I scanned yesterday with my Zenith HD-SAT 520 yesterday afternoon. What kind of antenna are you using?
I'll post if I hear anything else. They told me they would email me when they started passing thru the NBC HDTV programming. I sure wish they would get it done this week. I want to see NASCAR in HD on Sunday!!

woodyww, I use the ratshack vu190 (I think) 120 inch boom blah, blah..
what's your signal strength on this station? My antenna is about 40 feet in the air, I recieve WBRZ DTV/KADN DTV/KLFY DTV/KATC DTV/KLPB DT...But no
KPLC right now, I must re-position the antenna before trying another scan,
I'm a little further out than you, closer to say 55 miles and with it being low
power for now I may be out-of-luck. Thanks for the reply

ps-give me your signal strength reading!

Scan not a friend with a microscopic glass. you know his faults, let his foibles pass.

Oh yeah, just spoke with an engineer @ KPLC, he says the increase will be incremental with a full-power dtv signal by april/may possibly. KPLC'S new tower is adjacent to the old one which must be un-stacked when construction is complete on the new one...according to KPLC the new tower will support both the analog antenna and the digital antenna.

Scan not a friend with a microscopic glass. you know his faults, let his foibles pass.

Unfortunately my Zenith does not give me a signal strength on OTA channels. All I can tell you is that last week my analog signal was mostly snow and the digital channel was MIA. This week the analog is decent with just a little snow and the digital is great with an occasional breakup

Craig, you PBS station will be on-air soon, spoke with the lpb engineer, they just completed alexandria, will increase power in baton rouge and then lake charles will be next. You may try pointing your yagi towards
the KLFY transmitter again, as this is where KLPB digital antenna is located..

Scan not a friend with a microscopic glass. you know his faults, let his foibles pass.

woodyww, I re-positioned my antenna saturday afternoon and kplc was coming in pretty well one one dtv receiver, but not the othe. according to the engineer they will 'pass thru' the nbc hd signal within about 30 days..

Scan not a friend with a microscopic glass. you know his faults, let his foibles pass.

I am going to stop trying to get beaumont,tx and leave my antenna pointed to KLFY. I can get KPLC & KLFY as of now. Do you guys know what the plans are for ABC in Lafayette? They have most of the shows I watch. I am going to put up a 30ft tower and stronger preamp in a couple of weeks. I will let everyone know how this does. I live in moss bluff which is about 5-miles north of Lake Charles. Thanks for the info guys.

I live in an apartment in Lafayette, 2nd floor, and I get KATC, KLPB, and KLFY. Of course I don't have an outdoor antenna just a small indoor one. Does anyone know when Cox is supposed to start offering HD in Lafayette? Thanks,

I just got my HD over the air set up a couple of weeks ago.
Here in Beaumont we only have CBS (KFDM), that broadcast a true HD signal. NBC (KBTV) and ABC (KBMT) only broadcast a digital signal of their SD programming.
If anyone else has heard a timeline for NBC and ABC to start showing HD signals, I would love to hear it.

I've emailed and spoken to the turkeys at KBTV and KBMT for the past couple of years. The answer at KBTV is "don't hold your breath" They have no plans to pass through the NBC HD signal. Period.....the end.
KBMT says they will not pass through any ABC HD signal until 2006 when they complete the buildout of their new digital transmitter outside of Vidor. Right now KBMT is transmitting from their studio on a 100' pole. KPLC(NBC channel 7analog and 8-1 digital) in Lake Charles will be up and running in August. They were up and running in February however their tower came crashing to the earth and took out everything inlcuding their digital transmitter. I live in Bridge City and got the analog OK with some snow but the digital is crystal clear. I'm using a Radio Shack antenna in my attic. You might be able to get it in Beaumont. It would be worth a try. Right now I'm getting 21-1 and 4-1 and 21-2 but I cannot receive the KBMT(50-1) signal. KLTL (PBS) in Lake Charles should get their digital signal up soon after KPLC does. I think they might be using the same tower.
I hope this info helps. You need to thank Larry Beauliue the next time you see him. Channel 6 is the only one that has stepped up to the plate.

My brother just ran into Larry Beauliue yesterday and did just that. Larry was pleased that we were enjoying their HD signal. He said the other stations needed to spend about $200,000 to get a HD signal up and running and did not see it happening anytime soon. But he also said that it would not make good business sense for them to hold out to long.
I have the Radio Shack U-75R antenna in my attic as well. I get all 3 Beaumont digital signals very strong. Oddly enough ABC with their wimpy signal comes in at full power at my house.
Is the Lake Charles NBC HD? I would probably have to move my antenna to the roof and add VHF to pick up that station. My antenna is UHF only.
I sure wish our ABC and NBC would get on the stick.
My brother just purchased the Samsung SIR-T351 at Sears. They matched my internet buy of $208.00.
Thanks for all the info.

I've emailed their station manager a couple of times and he has indicated that as soon as they get their 8-1 digital signal going they will be able to pass through the NBC HD signal. They were just getting ready to do it last spring when the tower fell and wiped out all of their digital equipment.
8-1 is VHF and you would definitely have to opt for a VHF antenna. The good news is that it is also generally east of Beaumont(Fenton, LA) which is almost a direct line with KBTV and KFDM transmitters in Vidor.

I'm a long-time lurker who is glad to see a SE Texas/SW Louisiana thread. I jumped onto the HD bandwagon a little over a year ago, and I too was sad to learn of SE TX's sparse high def offerings. Despite getting negative feedback from everyone I asked, I made an attempt at the Houston locals. To my surprise, with a RS VU-110 antenna, a Winegard AP-8275 pre-amp and about 35 ft. of elevation, I am able to receive fairly good 'nighttime' reception. My initial incentive was KTRK-13 for MNF, but I am able to get pretty much every local, including 4 or 5 spanish stations, occasionally even KUHT PBS(very low power). Daytime reception is non-existent, except on overcast days. All-in-all, I am happy with the reception I wasn't supposed to get. I am considering a UHF-only antenna stack, and maybe a taller mast, to see if can get even more consistent reception. P.S. I thought I would need a better antenna to get anything from that far (about 98 mi. from me), but since I already had the VU-110, I went ahead and gave it a shot.

Glad to hear you are able to get the Houston channels. Some day I may put up a large outdoor antenna to do just the same. But for now I am happy with the HD CBS feed.
And Lake Charles would be much better for me with their NBC station since I would not have to re-aim my antenna.
Woody, did you mean Vinton, LA? I have never heard of Fenton.
Any word on FOX 29 from Lake Charles or the low power Beaumont 64 version?
I have been also wondering if CBS has plans to air Late Night with David Letterman in HD like NBC does with Leno.
Also does anybody know if any of the Houston Texan games were HD last year or is that just the Super Bowl?
It is nice to finally have people posting in this thread. I know there has to be more of us out there. Maybe they just have not found AVS yet.

Fenton, LA is where the PKLC tower is located. It's a few miles north-northeast of Lake Charles I think. Go to the KPLC website and you may find some more information. They give updates on their tower construction there. The last I saw, the tower was topped out at something like 1600 feet and they were planning on resuming broadcasting from the tower in August. I believe right now they are broadcasting from their studio on a short antenna.
If Fox broadcasts Texans games then the answer is no there was no HD last year. The Fox network is supposed to go HD before the start of the NFL season this year but according to the Fox 29 engineer in Lake Charles it isn't going to happen for us. They are currently broadcasting a digital signal on DT-30 from their studio in Lake Charles. It's so weak that most of the people in Lake Charles can't see it. They have no plans to upgrade. It looks like they are going to do the bare minimum that the FCC mandates. Kind of like KBTV and KBMT. I would urge everyone to call and complain to these broadcaster until we can change their attitudes. I also call TWC routinely and ask when they are going to ad KFDM DT 21-1 to their lineup. The only answer I ever get is that it is in negotiation. The email address I have for the manager at TWC is mike.mckee@twcable.com . A good resource for what is going to be happening at KFDM is Jeff Laird. His email address is jefflaird@kfdm.com He is their HD guru.
In the meantime I'm happy to stick with D* TV.

I think maybe one Texan game was HD, but I can't remember. CBS only did one HD game a week last year, and the Texans were never the 'feature' game. I can remember a couple of times, seeing the Texans game on analog and the feature HD game on the digital channel on both KFDM and KHOU. This was not supposed to happen. I had heard Letterman was going HD this past year, but that didn't happen. Maybe this year. Leno does look awesome in high def.

Thanks Woody. I am glad there is someone here who knows most of this stuff.
The Texans were broadcast on CBS last year in Beaumont. I just did not know if regular games were HD or just special ones.
I watched Raymond and Two and Half men in HD for the first time last night.
The picture was great. For some reason dramas like CSI are fairly dark on my screen in HD. I will have to get into my television service menu and see if I can brighten them up some.
I will email CBS to see if it has any plans for David Letterman.

I did buy the Samsung because it has the DVI output, but right now I am using the Component outputs because I have my Momitsu DVD player hooked up to the only DVI input on my TV. My DVD's look absolutely stunning on my 50" DLP TV. I do highly recommend using the DVI where ever you can if you have a digital TV. You can see my setup in this link. Make sure to maximize the screen for the best resolution.http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../DSCF11362.jpg

CSI has that dark look on purpose and you're right it's too dark. CSI Miami on the other hand has an over bright orange look to it. Probably to make that what's his name with no talents hair to look even redder. CSI New York is coming this fall and it has a blue filter look to it. I guess to make the buildings look even more drab and give everything a cold big city feel. Personally I wish they would just leave stuff alone and show it in it's natural light.
Time for a poll: What is everybody using for a display? I have a Mits WS55508 CRT type. As far as I can tell, it was the first HDTV sold by Conn's. I bought it in October 1998. I read about it online in August and asked the salesman at the Conn's in Port Arthur to keep an eye out. He called me a month later and told me it was in his computer and then called me a month after that when it hit the showroom. I started out watching HD a few months before that using a HD decoder that was made for a failed satellite HD channel much like VOOM and had it hooked up to my giant C-band dish in my back yard. I used my 19" computer monitor for a display. The only thing I could see back then was the PBS HD channel and ABC-HD for Monday Night Football. Every once in awhile I would catch a backhaul of a parade or something like that in HD. It was pretty slim pickens.

My TV is a Samsung HLN507W. The newer HLP507W models are out now and have a slightly improved picture. I love the DLP and LCD technology because the screen will not have a burn in problem that plasmas have. Also all you have to do is change a bulb to get the TV back to a like new state every 5 or so years.
I currently have Dish Network because I am grandfatherd into the national network feeds of both the East and West coast. It is great to be able to miss a program 8 PM. and be able to still catch it again at 10 PM.

Very nice setup Arcade. I have a Hitachi 57GWX20B. I got it as a refurbished model online after reading about the UECweb.com site in this forum. Only one small blemish and no problems in a year and a half, knock on wood. I also have HD cable. Though the content is limited, the image quality of INHD, HDNet and Discovery HD Theater is stunning. There is also a Foxsports SW HD channel that shows the occasional Astros or Rangers game. The All Star Game, which had very limited HD broadcast on Fox (KRIV 27 was one of the few), was also shown on this channel.